Couvade Syndrome
by PrehistoricCat
Summary: Connor hasn't been feeling well since returning from the Cretaceous.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval, it belongs to Impossible pictures**

**A/N: Rated T for a couple of mild sexual references. **

* * *

Abby glanced anxiously at the bathroom door as she waited for the kettle to boil. Connor was throwing up – again. He'd been doing it for the last week, and now she was starting to get worried about him. She heard the toilet flush, and turned back to making her cup of tea. He came out and made his way over to the kitchen. He looked awful.

"Connor, I wish you'd go and see a doctor!" Abby said, looking at his clammy, pale face.

"It's nothing, just a bit of a stomach bug that's all" he said, rubbing his stomach.

"You haven't been right since we came back through the anomaly, and now you keep being sick! What if you picked up something nasty in the Cretaceous?"

"I can hardly go to the doctor and say 'I was living in the cretaceous period for a week and I think I might have caught something from a Raptor' can I?" he said, popping some bread into the toaster. "Besides, I'm OK once I've had something to eat"

Abby shook her head. He could be so stubborn at times! There was something very wrong with Connor, she just had this feeling. "How about David at the ARC?" David was a medic in the army, not quite a doctor but had so much experience in the field he was as good as one. In fact, she was planning on seeing him herself regarding a concern she had for her own health.

"Maybe" he said, avoiding Abby's eyes. He didn't want to make a fuss really, it was just a stomach bug.

--

Later that day, Connor was walking back from taking some reports to Lester and passed the door to the infirmary. It was open, meaning David was free, so Connor took a deep breath and decided to have a chat. . This was a place they'd all had to go to at some point. David had patched up, sewn up, injected, forced pills down and lectured every single one of them.

"Hi Connor, it's been a while, how are you?" David smiled at him

Connor nodded "Fine. Abby's been nagging me to come and see you actually"

"Oh?" David said "Is everything OK?"

"I've been feeling a bit queasy recently, been sick a few times. It's probably something I ate that's all" Connor said.

"Probably" David said, shining a light into his eyes. "But you may have been exposed to something when you were stuck in the past, let me check you over, just to be certain" he indicated for Connor to get up on the bed. He pressed around his stomach "Any pain? Tenderness?" Connor shook his head. "Headaches? Feeling faint?" Connor shook his head. "Hop off the bed"

They went back to the desk. "With no other symptoms, I'm tending to think it's maybe a touch of food poisoning, or just a bug but I'll do a few blood tests, just to be sure" he prepared a syringe. Connor hated needles, he turned away and winced as he felt it pierce his skin. "All done. I'll get these sent off for analysis and I'll call you back in when the results come through."

Connor left feeling happy. He could tell Abby he'd had some tests done, that would get her off his back at least.

--

Not long after that, Abby plucked up the courage to go and see David too. She never usually had issue with going to see the doctor, but this time was different. She was scared. She wandered in, David was sat at his desk writing.

"Hi Abby, what can I do for you?" he said, looking up

"I was wondering if … I need you …. I'm late" Abby was unusually awkward.

"Late?" David said "As in … your period?" Abby nodded. "OK. You want me to do a pregnancy test?" Abby nodded again. She was shaking, her insides felt like they were tied up in knots. He passed her a small pot "I need you to go and provide a sample for me, then we can do the test".

She shut herself into the ladies bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she thought back to the events that had led her here. It was the third night that she and Connor were in the cretaceous. She'd been the strong one, Connor was injured, getting weaker, and the first two nights had been her looking after him. However, on the third night, she cracked, sobbing uncontrollably. Connor took charge despite being in considerable pain, and she found herself in his arms. It had just happened, it felt right. Her tears disappeared as Connor's warmth surrounded her, and as they made love, she had never felt more at home, despite being millions of years away.

Now, here she was, facing the harsh reality of what that night might have resulted in. "I'm not ready for this" she said to her reflection. She had no concerns about Connor, he would be there for her no matter what, it was just herself she was concerned about. She was scared that she would be a dreadful mother, she'd not had a great role model in her own life. No child deserved that.

She went back to the infirmary and silently handed David the sample. "This will only take a couple of minutes, sit down" he went over to the worktop at the back of the room and started doing things. Abby tried not to be concerned, but as the seconds ticked by, she grew more and more anxious. She began drumming her fingers on the desk without realising.

David finally came back over to the desk and sat down. "Abby" he began "It's positive. You're pregnant" Abby couldn't speak. All the dangerous creatures she had encountered these last couple of years were much less scary than the words she had just heard. David was talking to her, something about "various options", but she wasn't hearing him.

"Abby?" David said, finally getting her attention

"Sorry. It's just this is a bit …. It's going to take a bit of getting used to"

"You do have a little time to make decisions, no-one is expecting you to do anything at the moment. This is life changing, for you and the father" David looked at her, his face softening. "You should make an appointment with your own doctor, or at least the nurse at the surgery, talk this through with someone."

Abby nodded, still shell shocked. She stood up to leave, but David told her to sit down "Tell me to mind my own business if you want to, but the father … is it Connor?"

"Yes" she said. She figured there was little point in denying it, most people knew how close she and Connor were, and would be more shocked if he wasn't the father.

David grinned. "I think I know the cause of Connor's mysterious vomiting" Abby looked at him. "Morning sickness"

"Connor has morning sickness?! Isn't it supposed to be me that gets that?" Abby said

"Some men get sympathy symptoms. You two live together, maybe he's unconsciously picked up a change in you, your hormones, body language."

Abby couldn't help but smile. Connor was usually so slow on the uptake about everything, but this time, he'd worked it out before she'd even noticed her period was late. "He thinks he's got a stomach bug, and I thought he'd picked up something in the cretaceous … turns out it was me that came back from there with more than we went with" She blushed.

"Are you ready to tell him he's going to be a father? I should put him out of his misery about the sickness" David said. Abby nodded. David picked up the phone and dialled Connor's extension "Can you pop into the infirmary for a few minutes? I know what's causing your illness"

Connor was there in a flash, half expecting to be told he had some terrible infectious illness and would have to be quarantined. He was surprised to find Abby there. "What's this?" he said nervously.

"You'd better sit down Connor" Abby said. He took the chair next to her and tried to read her expression, and then turning to David, trying to read his expression. Abby took his hand and squeezed it. Suddenly, he felt very scared.

"Connor. I believe you have a condition known to some as Couvade Syndrome" David said, looking very serious.

"Really?" Connor said. "How serious is it? Do I have to go into hospital?" his heart was in him mouth.

"It comes from a French word, meaning to brood. It basically means a sympathy pregnancy" David smiled.

"Oh" Connor looked puzzled. "I've heard of that. My uncle had it when my aunt got pregnant…. But I don't know anyone that's pregnant"

"Yes you do" Abby said gently, squeezing his hand again.

"No … can't think of …. Oh" the penny dropped. "How long have you known?"

"About 15 minutes" Abby said. "Haven't really got my head round it yet"

David silently left the room, leaving Abby and Connor alone. "I guess you'll be wanting me to move out, I'll start looking tonight" Connor said

"Why would I want you to do that?" Abby said

"You'll need the room for the baby, and the father will probably want to be around" Connor looked sad.

"Connor, you can be so thick sometimes!" she gave him a gentle shove. "The father will be around, he already is. Connor, it's yours" She looked him the eyes, looking for his reaction when it finally clicked. She thought for an awful moment that she'd been wrong about him and that he would run, but then a beautiful smile spread across his entire face.

"I'm going to be a daddy?" he said. Abby nodded, and felt tears welling up. He hugged her, holding her tightly. It took her right back to that night, under the stars, and she felt the love she'd felt then. At that moment, she knew she didn't need to discuss "various options" with a nurse. As scary as it was, she was going to have this baby, with Connor, and she was not going to make the same mistakes her mother had.

--

The following morning at the Maitland/Temple flat, the sound that had started every day for well over a week could be heard at its usual time. The bathroom door was slightly ajar. "Abby?" Connor yelled

"I'm OK" she yelled back. She turned round to see Connor coming into the bathroom. She was kneeling on the floor. He grinned at her and put his arm around her. "I hate being sick, you have a lot to answer for!" she said. She gave him a friendly shove and they both laughed ... until Abby felt the nausea overwhelming her again and she had to turn back to the toilet. Connor gently rubbed her back, knowing exactly how she felt, but slightly relieved it wasn't him this morning....


End file.
